Fattoria Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2021

Poggio di Sotto's origin story is one of pure, methodical obsession. Piero Palmucci, a shipping entrepreneur, spent years researching Montalcino's soils and microclimates before settling on Castelnuovo dell'Abate, at the foot of Mount Amiata on the region's southern edge, founding the estate in 1989 and releasing his first Brunello in 1991. Working with the legendary consultant Giulio Gambelli and the University of Milan, he became fixated on clonal diversity, eventually identifying — through a University of Florence study — 182 distinct Sangiovese biotypes across the property, now planted as a deliberate randomized field blend for genetic resilience and complexity. The estate has been certified organic since its very first vintage, and the 25 individual parcels span 190 to 440 metres on poor, stony clay and limestone soils, cooled at night by breezes off Mount Amiata (often snow-capped even in summer) and the nearby Ombrone river, tempering what would otherwise be one of Montalcino's warmer subzones. In 2011, ownership passed to Claudio Tipa and his sister Maria Iris Bertarelli of the ColleMassari group, who preserved Palmucci's winemaking team and methods intact — the wine still ferments spontaneously in oak vats with extended maceration, ages 36 months in large 3,000-litre casks, and the decision on whether a lot becomes Rosso or Brunello isn't even made until the second year of barrel ageing. The 2019 vintage was named Decanter's Wine of the Year for Italy in 2024, cementing a reputation Stephen Brook has called "indisputably in the very top ranks of great Brunello."

The result is deliberately radical in style — closed and demanding in youth, built entirely for the cellar rather than immediate gratification, but rewarding patience with extraordinary elegance, freshness, and complexity rather than sheer power. It's a wine of genuine detail and brightness, reflecting both the biotype diversity in the vineyard and the estate's uncompromising traditional winemaking.